About Us

As compiled by: Greg Baker

The building that is now known as the Jettie Baker Center in downtown Clintwood Virginia has a long and storied history.

The lot where the building sits was first sold to two area businessmen in 1898, W.M. Thornbury and W.C.D. Rush. A few years later it was sold to Clintwood businessman M.W. Remines.

Ina W. Flanagan, Jr., a lawyer, was appointed by the Circuit Court in 1931 to sell the property because of default of a note. It was sold to the Dickenson County Bank, which happened to be the first bank in Dickenson County.

E. J. Sutherland and Walter Lee Rush, both lawyers were receivers for the Bank as the Bank had gone broke and was ordered closed by the Court. In 1940, receivers, Sutherland and Rush, conveyed the property to Clyde and Catherine Remines.

The property was sold next to J.C. and Agnes Gilliam who in turned sold it to Claude and Versie Reedy. The Reedys’ thought about building a hardware store on the property, but decided to go to another site a block away where they built a hardware and furniture store.

Not needing the property, the Reedys’ sold the land in 1944 to R. H. Bolling of Pound, Virginia. R.H. Bolling built the first structure on this site and it was named “Mullins Theatre,” as a tribute to his wife’s maiden name.

The Mullins Theatre sprung into existence and opened for business in 1946. Charles Ray Peters was the first manager of the theater. Several people worked at the theater, running the projector, taking up tickets, and selling popcorn. Some of the early workers were Gurvis Mullins, age 17; Walter Meade, and Hattie Mooney. Hattie’s daughters, Effie and Bonnie also worked at various jobs, including janitorial duties.

A midnight show, which was different from the night’s regular movie, was common. R.H. Bolling had formed a relationship with Baker Brother’s Coal Company working in the Crabtree Hollow section of Dickenson County, picking slate and doing other coal related work. It was only natural that one of the Baker Brothers, Earl Baker, and his wife Delores purchased the theater from Mr. and Mrs. Bolling in 1951. Later that year, Earl and Delores sold the building to Grady and Jettie Baker and Garfield and Nell Baker. A few months later, Garfield and Nell sold their interest to Grady and Jettie.

Kenos (K.B.) Baker managed the theater for 25 years. He actually started working for the Bolling family when they had the business. He had lots of helpers and advisors such as Robert and Bobby Garrett, expert electricians who worked for the Bakers in the mining business. Bobby ran and kept the old time reel to reel projector running for years. Johnny Deloach also sold tickets and concessions and about anything else that needed to be done.

In the early years, tickets for a movie were forty cents ($.40) for adults and fifteen cents ($.15) per child. In the 1970’s, tickets were increased to one dollar ($1.00) for adults and fifty cents ($.50) per child. Popcorn was ten cents ($.10), then increased to a quarter ($.25) and a drink was also a quarter ($.25). So for $1.50, you could have a great time at the movies.

The theater seated 600 people with a huge balcony. Many sweethearts enjoyed the balcony for special occasions. Doors opened at 1:00 PM on Saturday and 2:00 PM on Sunday. During the week, showtime was 7:00 PM and silver dollars were given away every Tuesday night. The movie, Love Me Tender, featuring Elvis Presley, sold 1800 tickets on 3 showings on one Sunday, which is thought to be the record.

The upstairs of the theater, in addition to the spacious balcony, headquartered the offices of Baker Brother’s Coal Company, Betty B Coal Company and Baker Energy, Inc. Brothers Grady, Garfield and Earl could often be found there. Garfield was the bookkeeper for the company and also the payroll clerk. It was fascinating to hear men working for the company come plead their case with him as to why they needed a “cash advance” before regular payday. Downstairs, Hancock Lambert Pharmacy, which still operates to this day, was housed in the building along with Clintwood Insurance Agency. The insurance office was closed when the major renovations were done to the building. Grady and Jettie’s great nephew, Greg Baker, opened his first law office in 1985 on the second floor, where the coal company had ceased its operation. However, the theater was still going strong.

Jettie Baker, widow of Grady, graciously donated the building to the Town of Clintwood in 1997. It was ironic and this gift may have never happened if her nephew Donald Baker, Garfield’s son, had not been Mayor of Clintwood at that time. Mayor Baker urged her to consider gifting the building to the Town and promised he would go to Richmond or wherever he had to go to get the funding for a state of the art facility. The promise turned into reality. Mayor Baker, Jettie and the entire Baker family is quite proud of the facility.

Simply, it is a fantastic venue. Not only will you find music shows of various genres regularly playing there on weekends, you will find events by the areas Pro Arts league. The State Theater of Virginia, commonly known as the Barter Theatre, has performances at the center and there are many other community functions.

After much time, energy, care and millions of dollars invested, what began as an unimproved dirt lot in the center of Main Street in Clintwood, has become a treasure for the entire region. Come visit Jettie Baker Center. You will love what you see!